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July 6, 2008

UNT Jazz Program Set for New Direction As Longtime Leader Scats

by Sam Savage

By David Flick, The Dallas Morning News

Jul. 6--DENTON -- Neil Slater has faced many challenges in his 27 years as chairman of the University of North Texas' Jazz Studies Division.

But convincing young musicians that they can learn America's most urban art form in the middle of the Texas prairie has not been one of them."I've never had any problem recruiting," he said. "The reputation of the school is out there."

Last week, Mr. Slater, 76, led the school's famed One O'Clock Lab Band on the start of a three-week tour of European jazz festivals.

After he returns, he said, he will clean out his desk and begin retirement, which officially starts Aug. 31.

The next steps are less specific. He intends to continue to live in Denton and maybe play some gigs at local clubs.

It will bring to an end a tenure in which he not only ran the Jazz Studies Division but directed the One O'Clock Lab Band (named after its rehearsal time), was instrumental in founding a jazz master's program and received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship grant.

He did so with enough time left over to compose more than 60 pieces, one of which, the multisectional "Values," was nominated for a Grammy in 1993.

Tim Ries, a former student whose resume includes stints with Maynard Ferguson and the Rolling Stones, played in the One O'Clock Lab Band when Mr. Slater took over in 1981.

"He very definitely put his own stamp on it," Mr. Ries said. "He gave us the freedom to play, but he could be very brutally honest with the students."

Even his praise sometimes had an edge.

Mr. Ries was on Mr. Slater's first European tour with the band in the early 1980s, when they played some of the most prestigious venues on the continent, often sharing billing with the biggest names in jazz.

"I remember one day we were on the bus, and we were behaving like typical 20-year-olds, like we were teenagers on a vacation with their parents," he said.

When the bus arrived at the Antibes Jazz Festival, the group saw its name on a poster that also included Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson and Ron Carter.

"These people were our heroes," Mr. Ries recalled, "and he pointedly said, 'For some of you, this may be the pinnacle of your careers.' He was telling us that if we wanted to go further, to be players, we had to be serious and have respect for ourselves and for our school."